Steven McDonnell expects Armagh to be a different proposition for Cavan than they were when the sides met in the Allianz League earlier this year.

The counties renew their rivalry in the Ulster SFC quarter-final at Kingspan Breffni Park on Sunday, just a few months after Cavan handed out a 17-point drubbing to Kieran McGeeney's men en route to securing promotion to Division 1.

Twelve years ago, McDonnell was part of an Armagh team which lost to the Breffni County by 13 points in the Allianz League, only to turn the tables in the championship three months later.

"On current form, Cavan are the team that gained promotion while Armagh got relegated and all the, I suppose, favourite tags would point it directly torwards Cavan," the 2002 All-Ireland winning forward told the Irish News.

"But that's something that they haven't taken favourably to over the last couple of years. I don't think Cavan will have it nearly as easy as they had it in the league encounter.

"And let's be honest, the league in comparison to Ulster championship matches - there's a difference of night and day - and I do believe that Armagh will be better prepared and better set up."

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